It was a battle between Farah and Kenyan Isiah Kiplangat Koech down the home straight, with the Londoner moving away in the last 40m.

Farah crossed the line in 13 minutes and 26.99 seconds to claim his fifth global outdoor title.

Mo Farah's major medals

2013
World Championships
gold
(10,000m & 5,000m)

2012
Olympic
gold
(10,000m & 5,000m)

2012
European
gold
(5,000m)

2011
World Championships
gold
(5,000m) and
silver
(10,000m)

2011
European Indoor
gold
(3,000m)

2010
European
gold
(10,000m & 5,000m)

2009
European Indoor
gold
(3,000m)

2006
European
silver
(5,000m)

"I never thought in my career I would achieve something like this," said Farah. "This was very tough - it was all left to the last two laps. I had a lot of pressure but at the same time I enjoy it.

"I am very proud to represent my country and hold the Union Jack. To all the people who give me great support I can't thank you enough. Thank you to all the people back home - I am very proud."

The historic feat in Moscow concludes an incredible 12 months for Britain's greatest distance runner, who has now matched the feats of Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele.

Multiple world record holder Bekele claimed double gold at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and repeated his exploits at the Berlin World Championships a year later to join his compatriot Haile Gebrselassie on the list of history's distance running greats.

Some will argue the absence of world records for Farah over the two distances is a hole in his glorious CV.

Farah, however, stands head and shoulders above his compatriots as the most decorated British athlete in history.

Before the start of these championships, Farah was level with triple jumper Jonathan Edwards and decathlete Daley Thompson with three major championship titles, but he moved above them in the space of a magnificent six days in the Russian capital.

5,000m final analysis

Paula RadcliffeFormer world marathon champion and BBC Sport expert

"The other athletes played right into Mo Farah's hands and that's a measure of his intimidation factor over them. No-one went out to really test him and he was getting more and more confident. Once he got into the front he always had enough to hold them off and there was no chance they were coming past him. He was so calm and I am in awe of the way he dominated that race."

BBC Sport commentator Brendan Foster called Farah the greatest British athlete of all time.

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Comments

he will never be regard as the greatest long distance ever. kenenisa bekele, Haile Gebrselassie are just too good for mo farah. if u looked at the past results mo farah never beat bekele before he got injured. the current kenya and ethiopia long distance athletes just aint good enough to win races. dont forgot mo farah aint even close to the 5000m and 1000m world record

plant5man @546Fosters stupid statement--Well they have to say something but sadly it's usually bull. A remarkable couple of years for Mo. Most of the time you can see greatness at a very young age but I can honestly say when he was twenty, he never showed that he would reach the heights he has. Well done Mo

As expected, rather than celebrate a great achievement, Fosters stupid statement has (a) led to people denigrating Mo because he hasn't a WR, (b) led to people denigrating other memorable athletes performances (c) give the bitter little trolls the opportunity to question Mo's "Britishness".

@543Yes I agree they are all great. I hope you realise that question wasn't actually aimed at you? Coe's Olympic medals were won against the best in the world. He had to compete against other greats like Ovett, Cram, Cruz, Scott, Bile, Gray, to win his medals. His career spanned several generations of athletes, Farah has won all his in 3 seasons when the depth is not as strong as it has been.

deanouk @ 539. Heard of Mel Watman---of course and I have read his work which is merely opinion. Coe was his no1 based purely on his 2 golds It could be said Coe won 2 golds when the world was not there. He was considered THE GREAT 800 mtr athlete of his time, a long time WR holder yet won just a Euro champs gold

@539Farah is 16 secs behind the 5k & 29sec behind the 10k WRs. He is certainly capable of faster but until he breaks one he hasn't the full resume. I've been following the sport long enough to know that the experts consider Olympic gold & a WR to be the pinnacle of an athlete's career. Heard of Mel Watman? He put Thompson & Coe at top purely on the fact they had both.

Times are irrelevant at major championships, it's purely about winning. In terms of dominance, for the last couple of years Mo has been that. Personally I don't see the point in calling him the greatest Brit. He's one of the great Brit male athletes just as Coe, Thompson, Hemery and several others were. Just one problem for me. I wish we had more of them.

@538Clarke's legacy is assured as he knocked down barriers & pushed the boundaries of what was possible. But you're right, he never had an Olympic gold. Farah has got the gold but not the times. Bekele, Geb, Viren, Zatopek have both. Purists in the sport, especially non biased Brits wouldn't put Farah on their level yet. Thompson, Coe & Ovett had both & they didn't have World Champs every 2 years

@537...course you can speculate...either you speculate that he could win a WR ro you speculate that he cannot...God knows we had the could he win a grand slam/wimbledon on the Andy Murray boards for years. Why hasn't he attempted one? Perhaps its because he sets more value on winning gold medals..it is your view that all time greats need a world record....and I sure many like me disagree..

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